Posted on by Caroline · 6 Comments

An author abroad – follow me across the world!

2016 has been an eventful year for me. Last Christmas I made the decision that I wanted my life to change…though I had no idea quite how I wanted that to happen…

Skip f13061919_10153438940167026_2323675717420956155_norward five months and a helluva a lot of umming and ahhing – I took a trip to Costa Rica to take a break and think about what I wanted next from life (not a bad place to do it, sitting on a Caribbean beach with a cocktail in hand!)

It wasn’t until two days before I came home, laying in a hammock beneath a swaying palm tree (slightly concerned about the coconuts which had been plummeting like missiles from the sky the previous day) and I had an epiphany. I didn’t want to go home.

 

Now I should mention I am by no means what you would call ‘misfortunate’ in the life I was leading back in the UK. But I had, for the past year or so, been looking for something more.13041449_10153438923462026_3936022307660066299_o

And I wasn’t sure just what that was until I lay under the Costa Rican sun in a hammock. Of course, life isn’t a holiday. I couldn’t stay abroad and I inevitably got on my British Airways flight home – but with a renewed sense of purpose. Because I had decided to make the move abroad- something I would scarcely have even considered the previous year but which suddenly made so much sense.

 

The year ticked by, I returned to my job, became an auntie to a beautiful baby girl and continued to write my fantasy series in the meantime. But the desire never went away. So I booked a ticket back to Costa Rica, enrolled in a TEFL course on the stunning pacific coast and in 20 days time I will be jetting back across the world to embark on a new adventure.

I’ll still be writing, the final instalment of The Rise of Isaac is well underway but I’ll also be focusing on blogging about my experiences as I risk it all and take a metaphorical leap of faith. I feel the weight of that risk very much at the moment- giving up my comfortable life, my steady income, my  gorgeous flat – but sometimes in life you’ve just got to risk it all for that gut feeling.

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Posted on by Caroline · 6 Comments

A True Quote

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Everyone sees the world differently and I think it’s so important to be understanding of other people’s opinions. Even if someone completely disagrees on, say, your favourite book it’s hard not be annoyed when it’s something you are passionate about. But, as Cinderella says:
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Everyone is looking for different things in books and even two people who love the same book may love it for completely different reasons! But if we all loved and hated the same things equally the world would be a very boring place indeed…

Posted on by Caroline · 9 Comments

Day Two of the Three Days, Three Quotes Challenge!

Hey guys so it’s day two of the challenge and I realised I forgot to tag people in it yesterday to pass it on haha woops! So I’ll tag extra people today (aren’t you lucky! You’re just rubbing your hands together hopin’ I’m gonna nominate you – aww now I feel bad if I don’t…)

Today’s quote is from the late Robin Williams. I love it and think it says it all so I’m shutting up now and giving you the quote!

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And here are my tags:

1) susannevalenti

2) S.W.Lothian

3) Candice

4) Josephine

5) Doug

6) Paperback Discovery

Posted on by Caroline · 9 Comments

Conveying your Characters – Third Person Tips

So you have a fantastic character with all the flaws, traits and layers of an actual human being BUT (particularly when you’re writing third person) how do you get across who they really are?

When I started writing I knew I had a tendancy to write third person but, in comparison to first person, it isn’t so easy to convey their inner emotions and who they are as a person. Some people choose to add the thoughts and feelings of their characters in italics which is one way of approaching this but this isn’t a technique I personally use.

If, like me, you’re a bit of a googler then you may have tried searching this problem to get advice but what you get is a whole long list of ways to develop your character like character profiling etc. but this isn’t what I’m talking about (so if this is your problem – read no more!)

So what did I do? 

I read a whole lot of third person books and noted the techniques they used in terms of sentence structure to convey who the characters are.

And here’s my list for your persual. I hope you find it helpful!

(I use ‘he’ in my examples but this is obviously interchangeable with she/I/they etc. etc. Also all actions, thoughts and feelings distinguished by ‘/’ can be interchanged with whatever takes your fancy!)

  • He usually / His usual / He was used to being…
  • He supposed/wondered…
  • He hadn’t felt/behaved/acted that way for a while…not since (insert past event)
  • He felt embarressed/distressed/upset/hurt but wouldn’t let (so and so) know that
  • He had once been (insert description) but now he was (insert opposing description)
  • It was nice/unusual to meet someone like himself in that (describe how they are similar/disimilar)
  • It wasn’t how he personally would have acted but…
  • He wouldn’t be embarrassed/hurt/goaded so easily not since (insert past event that changed him) 
  • He frowned at himself/ his sister / friend / his clothes (shows how proud he is or isn’t)
  • He ignored the surge of emotions that arose because of…
  • Had he been able to/ willing to/ had the guts to/ bold enough to/ not under the watchful gaze of/ quicker off the mark/ he would have (insert action)
  • He (insert action) for effect
  • He tried to look/ tried not to look…
  • He was always/often/never/occasionally the one to (insert behaviour)
  • He generally avoided (insert situation/behaviour)

You get the idea!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Posted on by Caroline · 14 Comments

A quote for you!

“Today I’d like to sit and read,

Forget I have a job I need,

Ignore the things I have to do,

And just enjoy a book or two”

-Oscar Wilde
Don’t we all feel this way like….always?!

Posted on by Caroline · 9 Comments

I’ve been Nominated for the 777 Challenge (Yay!)

Thank you to Marjma for nominating me! 

Her blog is fantastic you should check it out. Click here to visit her page.

The idea of the 777 challenge is to share a snippet from a WIP (Work in progress) then nominate others to do the same! 

Here are the rules:



– Go to page 7 of your WIP (Or an older work that you have done and just love.)

– Scroll down to line 7

– Share the next 7 sentences in a blog post.

– After the excerpt tag 7 other writers to continue the challenge.

BUT I’ve recently shared the seventh page within the prologue to my fantasy YA novel Creeping Shadow so I’ve decided to share line 7 of the seventh page counting from chapter one (I hope that’s not breaking the rules too much! – try calling 777 if you’d like to complain hehe)

So here’s my excerpt:

 “Should we go in?” May asked, peeking under his arm.

 Oliver nodded and crept into the room. He brushed his fingers across a box on the bed and found a layer of dust deposited on it. A tingle ran up his spine as he got the distinct feeling that the room was somehow sacred, left untouched for years. He pushed his fingers under the lip of the closed box and lifted it slowly. The cardboard resisted, unmoving. He frowned and tugged at it harder but the box wouldn’t open.

And here’s my nominations:

1) Phantomwriter143 http://phantomwriter143.wordpress.com/

2) Isabellesudron http://sudrobelle.wordpress.com/

3) Rachelloon http://racheliliffe.wordpress.com/

4) C.S Wilde http://www.cswilde.wordpress.com/

5) Jacobemet http://jacobemet.wordpress.com/

6) Rlsharp http://rlsharpe.wordpress.com/

7) Dileepsankhla https://dileepsankhla.wordpress.com

Posted on by Caroline · 21 Comments

Cover Reveal for Creeping Shadow

The moment has arrived!

I’m extremely excited and proud to present to you the cover for Creeping Shadow (Book One in The Rise of Isaac Series)

For those of you who don’t know…
The Rise of Isaac is a five part series following the story of Oliver Knight on his quest through the seven worlds to save his sister from a lethal curse.

Book One, Creeping Shadow Synopsis:
Sixteen year old Oliver Knight discovers the existence of six other worlds after his adopted sister, May, falls ill to a lethal curse. The curse links her to the famous animageti-Gateway terrorist, Isaac Rimori, who murdered Oliver’s father in cold blood to gain access to the seventh world.

The only way to save May is by travelling to the next world, but entering each one requires the completion of a challenge and time is running out…

Coming to Amazon Kindle in December 2015

© Caroline Peckham and http://www.carolinepeckham.com, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Caroline Peckham and http://www.carolinepeckham.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.